Thursday, June 13, 2013

Florida Democratic Party Goes After Scott's Driver's License Veto.

For once the Florida Democratic Party is doing something smart by hammering Gov. Rick Scott for vetoing the right for immigrants with Deferred Action status from obtaining driver licences is stupid politics. Scott still thinks the tea party is a driving force. The Pew Research Center showed how President Obama beat Mitt Romney with Hispanics.

The state’s growing non-Cuban population—especially growth in the Puerto Rican population in central Florida—contributed to the president’s improved showing among Hispanic voters. This year, according to the Florida exit poll, 34% of Hispanic voters were Cuban while 57% were non-Cuban. Among Cuban voters, the vote was split—49% supported Obama while 47% supported Romney. Among the state’s non-Cuban voters, Obama won 66% versus 34% for Romney.

Of course, Scott's veto doesn't surprise me. Scott ran an xenophobic campaign against Muslims. A Salon investigative article found that Scott's company had to settle many discrimination cases.

Yet even before it was fully operational Solantic executives were accused of a pattern of serial discrimination in hiring, a pattern supposedly initiated by Scott himself. The suits alleged a standing policy not to hire overweight women, Hispanics with strong accents, older women and black women.

The company settled the suits, and never admitted any wrongdoing. Today, the company’s CEO, Karen Bowling, adamantly denies there was ever such a policy. But as Scott exerts influence on the national healthcare debate, and holds up his own company as a model of the virtues of the for-profit system, the chronology of the accusations is compelling. It starts with one of the very first people Solantic hired.

Scott can't help but come off as xenophobic anymore than a tiger can change its strips.